MCI Communications Corp. kicked off networkMCI Interactive Paging two-way service, using the AccessLink pager by Wireless Access Inc. and SkyTel Corp.'s ReFLEX 50 network.The complete service, with reply capability that ensures message delivery, is available in 16 markets. However, networkMCI Interactive Paging service is...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.,-Kenan Systems Corp. has introduced Arbor/OM, the first UNIX-based order entry and management system designed to support service providers in the converging communications industries worldwide, including wireline and wireless telephony, Internet and electronic commerce and cable TV.Kenan supplies billing, customer care and customer...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Alltel Corp. supplied its Virtuoso II billing and customer care system for GTE Wireless' personal communications services networks in Cincinnati, Seattle and Spokane, Wash.V-II is a flexible client/server-based software system that provides customer support, service activation, inventory and billing functions in a...
"The market for universal phones may prove more limited than trade hyperbole suggests," argues one analyst in response to industry buzz about satellite-based global telephone service-fueled by the successful launch May 5 of the first group of Iridium Inc. satellites."Extolled by the Iridium satellite...
Metrica says it holds the sole championship title in its corner of the global telecom industry, network performance management. The United States is especially promising right now for its business, as personal communications services licensees start up their networks.The company is just one of...
WASHINGTON (AP)-MCI Communications Corp. can continue its practice of not disclosing on monthly bills that it charges customers in full-minute increments, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court's dismissal of a class-action...
NEW YORK-Latin American countries may offer new opportunities for wireless telecommunications carriers, but they must be prepared to compete against incumbents for purchasing power that is concentrated in the hands of a few."A lot of the licenses coming up are for the third or...
Billing and customer care are hailed by industry analysts, vendors and service providers as keys to success in a highly competitive wireless market. The recent focus in this area has been on making better software, training personnel, integrating systems and ultimately how these components...
Amid the sagging stocks and belt-tightening that characterizes today's paging industry, one private company maintains rapid growth and is venturing into new markets.New York-based Affordable Message Center, a wholesaler of alphanumeric paging services and an operator for alphanumeric dispatch services, plans to offer Internet,...
Comsat Corp. said its offer to repurchase 8.13 percent debentures due April 1, 2004, was concluded April 9. The company repurchased $89.5 million of the $160 million in principal amount of debentures outstanding.Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd.'s board of directors declared a two-for-one split on the...
CHICAGO-Aerial Communications Inc. unveiled its new marketing campaign of TV, print, radio and outdoor ads in Columbus, Ohio, the company's first commercial personal communications services market. Aerial plans to launch PCS service in Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Tampa-Orlando, Fla., in the...
Aerial Communications posted $21 million in operating losses for the first quarter, which the company said was slightly below expectations.Aerial's parent, Telephone and Data System Inc. of Chicago, reported good first-quarter growth in its core telephone business and its subsidiary cellular operations.Executives said those...
CHICAGO-Ameritech Cellular Services said it recently deployed its Wireless Monitoring Solution to support real-time, on-line automated meter reading for Commonwealth Edison of Illinois. Approximately 1,600 meters have been equipped for wireless data monitoring so far, the company said.Commonwealth Edison said it selected Ameritech's product...
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-DMW Worldwide L.L.C. introduced a product that will allow customers to access and download billing information from the World Wide Web.Timarou, the company's integrated billing and customer care software application, allows consolidated and customized billing from a range of providers, products and...
While many large cellular carriers are slowly progressing toward offering bundled telecommunications services, a small Mississippi cellular company began its bundled offering last week.Cellular South customers now have the option to purchase cellular, residential and long-distance service from the company and receive one bill...
STAMFORD, Conn.-Santa Cruz Cellular Telephone Inc. renewed its contract with International Data Systems Inc. through 2000 for service bureau billing services using the ITDS 10X integrated billing and customer management system.Santa Cruz Cellular offers cellular service under the Cellular One brand name in Santa...
As equity capital markets have become weary for the wireless industry, carriers large and small are challenged to cut costs and increase per subscriber revenues. Larger, nationwide carriers hold the economies-of-scale advantage, but regional carriers report their own set of cost advantages.Major cost categories...
COLUMBUS, Ohio-Aerial Communications Inc. offers per-second billing in its Columbus, Ohio, market, which may make it the first personal communications services operator to launch such a proposition.Nextel Communications Inc., an enhanced specialized mobile radio operator, recently began offering per-second billing as well."True, per-second billing...
Customer care has become an increasingly important tool for operators competing in the wireless market, says a Swedish company that recently launched its third-generation customer care product in the United States in conjunction with InfoCellular Inc.When wireless carriers in Scandinavian countries began to experience...
Marketing may be everything.The technical properties of cellular and personal communications services-some similar, some different-balance out when vying for customers. How carriers decide to exploit technical advantages to win customers is another issue."PCS carriers are making a conscious decision to go after certain types...
NEW YORK-International Telecommunication Data Systems, which provides billing and information management services to wireless, satellite and wireline telecommunications companies, plans an add-on stock sale of 2.1 million shares.ITDS, based in Stamford, Conn., went public in late October. Its stock, which is listed on Nasdaq,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week declared that commercial wireless competition is developing, despite growing indications that funding problems, consolidation, operational snags and regulatory delay may be undermining the robust marketplace envisioned by policymakers."Our examination of the commercial mobile radio services industry indicates competition...
Architel Systems Corp. will provide its Automatic Service Activation Program to L.M. Ericsson for use in Ericsson's service activation product to allow service providers and network operators to activate service more quickly. According to the agreement, Ericsson will re-license Architel's ASAP product to purchasers...
Aerial Communications Inc. launched its first U.S. personal communications services network in Columbus, Ohio.The company's Global System for Mobile communications service is available through company-owned retail stores as well as several national retailers, including Best Buy, Office Max, Radio Shack, Circuit City and Office...
